Had a wonderful weekend. Indulged a little, so I am expecting to see a little increase on the scale in the morning. That’s ok. I’ll still be down from a week ago.
Tag: weight loss journey
January 7, 2023 – Small victories!
How to not go on a binge? Find ways to treat yourself that won’t break the calorie bank. Today we went to Krispy Kreme donuts. They all looked delicious. However, they were 280 calories for one donut. YIKES! Then I spotted the mini donuts. At 90 calories each, I was able to have two minis for less than the calorie “price” of one regular size. Small victories!
January 5, 2023 – Get moving!
Movement. It is something you don’t think about until it becomes difficult for you. Several thing contributed to my ever increasing stiffness and lack of mobility. From past car accident injuries and subsequent surgery, the pandemic, the hurricane, to clinical depression, so many things contributed to the stiffening of Kathy. But, if I’m going to be honest here, I have to admit that the main cause is LAZINESS. I just didn’t want to move and I didn’t care.
Fast forward to now. I have decided that I’m tired of being 56 and walking like an 86-year-old. I’m tired of eating foods that taste good but make me feel horrible. So, for the first time in my life, I really WANT to eat healthy and exercise.
One of my goals is to reduce the amount of empty calories I eat. After our last tasty indulgences at Norman Love Chocolate on December 31, 2022, I have stopped eating candy and adding sugar to my coffee/tea. I don’t miss it! Yesterday, while at work, I reached into my desk drawer where I used to keep my tea candies. I thought they were all gone but I found one. I absentmindedly opened it and put it in my mouth. As soon as I tasted it, I said “OH NO” and spit it out. It was only 15 calories but I knew that if I ate it I would go back to candy and sugar. I really made myself proud.
I’m not following any specific diet plan. I am using the CICO method. That is calories in/calories out. If I eat less calories than I expend, I will lose weight. I learned a lot about this from The Chris Terrell Podcast. You can learn more about Chris at www.christerrellcoaching.com.
Today I increased both my caloric output as well as my step count. I’m feeling pretty good.
Do you have any “go-to” websites, books, recipes that you are using on your health journey? Please share in the comments.
Thanks for reading!
January 4, 2023 – Non-scale victories
Today was a good day. Besides losing one pound, I had several non-scale victories.
First, I’ve been very good at staying within my calorie goal each day this week. I even stayed within today when we ordered Chinese food! I split the food in half and saved the rest for lunch tomorrow. In the past, that wouldn’t have happened. I would have snarfed that whole thing down.
I have been moving a lot more. I set a reminder to get up and walk at work. On one of my movement breaks, I went out of the office and did several laps around the hallway. Plus, I started doing yoga again today. There are really some great yoga videos on YouTube if you want to start your own practice. I really love it.
The yoga, stretching and extra movement has really helped loosen up my joints. I touched my shins for the first time in FOREVER and it didn’t hurt!!
Do you have any healthy recipes or beginner workout videos you would like to recommend? I’d love to hear from you.
January 3, 2023 – Two good days in a row
Today was a “rest” day. I did not go to the fitness center. Instead, I did several short cardio and strength exercise videos from the Wakeout app.
Wakeout helps me to work out the stiffness that occurs when you work a desk job. It gives stretches and exercises to get you moving during the work day. It will even let you schedule reminders to move.
My food choices today were excellent. Special K cinnamon pecan cereal with blueberries for breakfast. No sugar in my coffee and i even measured my sugar free creamer!
For my morning snack I had a cup of unsweetened tea and a Sargento balanced break. For my afternoon snack, I had a clementine. Delicious.
Lunch was shrimp, spinach, tomatoes, Kalamata olives over orzo with a squeeze of lemon. Yum!!
Dinner was two tacos loaded with lettuce and tomato with 2 oz of lean taco meat. Just a sprinkling of cheese to top them off. Yum.
I drank lots of water and had no sugary drinks.
It was a good day and I am proud of myself.
Have any good healthy recipes or tips you would like to share? What is your go to trick to keep yourself on track?
January 2, 2023 – It was a good day
I kept my promise and went to the fitness center at Centennial Park. I did 20 minutes on the treadmill and 10 minutes on the arm bike. It doesn’t sound like much, but it is 30 minutes of exercise that I wouldn’t have done before.
I ate well too! A bowl of Special K cinnamon pecan, 1% milk, blueberries, coffee, benefiber, and 2 Tbsp Zero Sugar creamer.
Lunch was leftovers from yesterdays lunch – grilled salmon, rice, green beans and half a baked potato. I had a healthy kombucha drink with my meal.
For an afternoon snack, I had a banana.
For dinner we had bowtie pasta with chicken. It had mushroom gravy and fresh spinach.
Keeping it real. Back to work tomorrow.
January 1, 2023 – Let’s start over
Happy New Year !!
Starting out on a positive note. Walked at the mall. Did chair yoga. Drank water. When we went out for lunch, I put half of my food in a to go box. Feeling tired but good. Tomorrow I hit the gym.
A good start.
Putting it in writing.
Whenever I decide to eat healthier and move more, I find that accountability helps. I have tried Weight Watchers (now known as WW), Jenny Craig, and Noom but they don’t have enough personal accountability. I have decided that I’m going to need to be my own accountability partner – via this blog.
Starting Monday, January 2, I will be keeping track of my food and exercise and being my own accountability partner. Or I could set goals like this…
How is everyone?
So, it has been a while since my last blog post. I guess you could say things have been a little busy here in Southwest Florida. I hope you all are well.
It has been 49 days since Hurricane Ian smashed into Florida causing major damage and 114 deaths from Lee County north into Charlotte and Sarasota Counties. Because the storm was so huge, it caused problems all over the state and then headed to the Carolinas for some more havoc.
Mike and I were very lucky. Although there is damage to the house, we can live in it. There are many people in our surrounding communities that weren’t so lucky.
Just when we thought hurricane season was about over – here comes Nicole. Oy! We had a rainy, breezy day. Those on the East coast of Florida weren’t so lucky. Did you all see the pictures of the homes washed into the Atlantic Ocean. So sad.
So, now that things are back to “normal” (really – you CAN see the normal if you look over the giant piles of debris everywhere) I plan to get back to reading and reviewing good books and talking about eating healthy and being good to your body.
After 46 days of erratic eating, I’m back to eating more fruits and veggies, lean protein, and fewer carbs. I’m looking for healthier recipes for Thanksgiving- including apple pie croissants!! Now that stores here have milk, eggs, butter, and fresh veggies – we no longer have to go on our evening grub crawl to find food trucks so we can eat. Next time you see a food truck, stop and buy something. If it weren’t for them a lot of people wouldn’t have eaten anything in the days after the storm. That is how bad things were.
So, hug your loved ones and enjoy every day with a smile on your face. Remember to be kind, especially to those who are in helping jobs. (Keep in mind, if you are dealing with storm aftermath, your local grocery checkout person, receptionist, public works staff are working to help YOU when they should be home getting their own situation fixed).
Be kind. Be patient. Be respectful.
Thanks for reading.
Update: slow and steady
If you read my Jenny Craig food reviews, you know I’ve been on a weight loss journey. The food was good and I did lose weight. I plateaued about a month and a half ago.
Even though I am not eating Jenny Craig meals, I have been eating very similar to those meals. I use the Lose It! app to track my food, water, exercise and weight. I was losing and gaining the same pound and a half for about three week and decided to change some things up. I added a healthy afternoon snack and some simple movements at my desk. I also made myself get up and walk for 15 minutes at work. I guess that was what I needed because the scale moved DOWN this week and it’s officially 16.8 pounds gone.
What are your plateau busters? I’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for reading.
This {_______} life 